Islamic State

Islamic State (IS) (also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)[1] or 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL), as referred by Barack Obama or 'Daesh', as referred by John Kerry), is a terrorist organization that operates in Iraq and Syria. Founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, it grew out of al Qaeda in Iraq.[2] It was founded during the Operation Iraqi Freedom of 2003. Its current leader is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. IS currently fights non-Muslims, Shiite Muslims, the Iraqi Army and Kurdish Peshmerga troops.[3] The goal of IS is to construct an Islamic Caliphate in Syria and Iraq.[4]

Ramzan Kadyrov, (Chechnya), 38, said the U.S. secretly controls the Islamic State.[5] Documents obtained by a FOIA request of Judicial Watch show as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State and the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset in the fight against Bashar al-Assad.[6] VP Joe Biden admitted in 2014 that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Turkey had funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Islamist rebels in Syria. Biden was forced to retract that statement.[7] The U.S. did precisely the same thing in terms of supplying and facilitating the Syrian opposition. Obama had requested $500 million to train fighters opposed to ISIS. In August, the Pentagon announced it would defend those forces from attacks by the Syrian government.[8]

Turkey's president Erdogan has good relations with Barack Obama and they both support Assad's ouster from Syria. Turkey is a major transit point for both foreign fighters and weapons, which makes both presidents complicit in the failure to stop fighters from joining ISIS ranks.

Syria and Iraq

In 2014 IS took control of the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Mosul. Since then Christians in Mosul have to pay "Protection taxes" for their faith.[10] In 2015 IS defeated Iraqi troops and seized the city of Ramadi. IS now controls all the border areas between Syria and Iraqi.

Turkey

Turkish tanks and warplanes along with rebel ground forces captured the symbolic city of Dabiq in Syria, October 2016. [12]

Turkish jets scrambled as tanks and artillery of its Fifth Armored Brigade shelled ISIS militants across the border in response to a suicide bombing in Turkey that killed 32 people.[13]

Islamic State fighters fired on a Turkish border outpost in the Kilis region, killing one Turkish soldier and wounding five.

Istanbul suicide bomber who blew himself up in Sultanahmet square near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, killing 11 tourists.[14]

Islamic State terrorists from Eastern Europe blew up the airport in Istanbul leaving 45 people dead.

Islamic terrorists strapped a bomb onto a child and sent him to a wedding party where he was detonated by remote control, killing over 50 people. Turkey responding by sending tanks and aircraft into a Syrian border town to attack ISIS militants.

Libya

Islamic State has created such a vast presence in Libya, 5000 fighters, that the U.S. government is scrambling to come up with a counter plan.[15]

Islamic State fighters captured Gaddafi's home city of Sirte. Libya has been in near anarchy since NATO forces helped remove Gaddafi.[16]

January 7, 2016, ISIS attacks the western city of Zliten with car bombs, killing 60 people.[17]

January 17, 2016, the coastal town of Bin Jawad became the fourth to fall into ISIS control.[18]

Afghanistan

Over 10,000 loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are based in the remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. A suicide bombing of the Pakistani consulate killed 10 people. The U.S. military presence in Afghanistan has been given new rules of engagement in order to attack ISIS targets.[19]

Egypt

Assassination of a government official has been linked to ISIS. The Sinai Provine, an ISIS affiliated terrorist group, launched dozens of simultaneous attacks on North Sinai. Egyptian military announced 17 soldiers and 100 militants were killed in fighting.[20] Israel has closed its border with Egypt in response to the developments.

Islamic State claims responsibility for a missile attack on an Egyptian warship.[21]

On October 31, 2015, Russian airline Metrojet left an Egyptian airport and blew up in flight killing 224 people. ISIS has claimed responsibility for placing a bomb onboard.[22]

ISIS claimed responsibility for a car bomb that injured nine people at the Italian consulate in Cairo.[23]

Saudi Arabia

On May 29, another suicide bomber killed 4 people in a Shiite mosque attack.

August 6, suicide bomber kills 15 at a mosque in the headquarters of the Special Emergency Force in Abha.

Suicide bombers hit targets in the city of Medina, 4 known deaths confirmed.[25]

Yemen

Islamic State suicide bomber strikes a Shiite mosque injuring 13 people. Also in May 2015, IS forces executed 15 Yemeni soldiers by beheading.[26]

Kuwait

ISIS has claimed responsibility for an apparent bomb blast at the Shiite-affiliated Al-Sadiq mosque on June 26, 2015.

Tunisia

Gunmen killed at least 27 people at a beachfront Tunisian hotel on June 26, 2015

ISIS-inspired killers

Many adherents to ISIS, with little or no formal training, act on behalf of the group outside of the region where the fighting is taking place.

Australia

December 2014, 18 hostages were held at The Martin Place Lindt café in Sydney by Man Haron Monis. Two hostages and the gunman were killed in a raid by Australian security forces.

France

Amedy Coulibaly attacked a kosher supermarket in Paris that killed a policewoman and four shoppers.

Islamic terrorism at Charlie Hebdo was an Al Qaeda affiliate attack with the full support of ISIS.

June 26, 2015, One person has been beheaded and two people injured in a terrorist attack at a U.S.-owned gas factory near Lyon.

November 13, 2015, multiple attacks left 129 people dead in terrorist attack at in Paris.

A Tunisian man living in France used his truck to murder 84 people including 3 Americans.

Bangladesh

ISIS militants took hostages in a take over of the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka. 20 people that could not recite the Koran were murdered. Security forces would seize the shop from the terrorists. Current death toll at 20 dead including 3 Americans.

Belgium

In January 2015, two suspects died a the shootout with police. The raid turned up four Kalashnikovs, handguns, bomb-making materials and police uniforms.[27]

Ringleader of the ISIS cell that committed mass-murder in France, Salah Abdeslam, was captured in Brussels.

ISIS Jihadi's bombed the Brussels airport in March 2016, killing 32 and injuring more than 300.

Germany

An axe-wielding Muslim Afghan refugee attacks passengers on a German train injuring 4 people before being shot dead.[28]

A Syrian suicide bomber injured 15 people through a suicide attack in Ansbach on July 24, 2016.[29]

Indonesia

Seven people were killed in Jakarta after gunmen and suicide bombers attack a cafe.[30]

United States

In May 2015, two suspects were killed by security guards as they went to attack Draw Muhammad Cartoon event in Garland, Texas hosted by Pamela Geller.

July 2015, ISIS militant attacks U.S. military base in Chattanooga, TN. 4 service members were killed.[31]